Hinge mechanism



,1967 KOJ. GOTO 3,351,975

HINGE MECHANISM F1165 Aug. 13, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

PRIOR ART FIG. 2

Nov. 14, 1967 KOJI GO'TO I 3,351,975 v HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 15,1965 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 KOJI GOTO 3,351,975

' .HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 14,- 1967 OI 601-0 3,351,975

HINGE MECHANISM Filed Aug. 13, 1965 r 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Mffi h u dladaufl%%zti United States Patent HINGE MECHANISM Koji Goto, Toyota, Japan,assignor to Toyota Motor Company Limited, Toyota, Japan Filed Aug. 13,1965, Ser. No. 479,406 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 23,1964,

2 Claims. (Cl. 16128.1)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge mechanism for opening and closing acover member, comprising a collapsible quadrilateral linkage includingan upper member rigidly adapted to be secured to said cover member, astationary part, a base member pivotally mounted on said stationarypart, a pair of generally arallel front and rear connector memberspivotally connected between said upper member and said base member, anda locus member pivotally connected at one end to said rear connectormember at a point intermediate the base member and the upper member andat the other end to the stationary part, the locus member guiding saidquadrilateral linkage to move the pivotal connection of the upper memberand the rear connector member substantially only vertically duringopening and closing of said cover member.

This invention relates generally to a hinge mechanism and moreparticularly to such a mechanism for opening and closing a cover plate,such as a hood for an automotive engine, having both ends of a linkageoperatively coupled thereto.

The conventional type of hinge mechanisms referred to is disadvantageousin that a cover plate can be opened and closed through a relativelygreat amount of its foreand-aft movement; angle to which the cover platecan be opened being insuflicient, a helical balance spring used with thehinge mechanism has either end anchored in non-consistent state on theassociated part resulting in that the cover plate is unstable in itsopen position, the mechanism requires a relatively large space and soon. These disadvantages further lead to various objections.

Therefore a general object of the invention is to eliminate theabovementioned disadvantages.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved hingemechanism for opening and closing a hood for an automotive engine bywhich the hood can be opened and closed through a relatively smallamount of its fore-and-aft movement while at the same time the hood inits open position forms a large angular opening through which theinternal construction normally enclosed by the hood is accessible.

The invention as to its organization and its manner of operation as wellas other objects and advantages thereof will become more readilyapparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating one form of the conventionalhinge mechanisms and the mounting thereof;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 andviewed from its internal side;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating another form of theconventional hinge mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a hinge mechanism constructed inaccordance with the teachings of the invention with its mounting alsoillustrated;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating the mechanism shownin FIG. 4;

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FIG. 6 is a perspective View of the essential part of the mechanismillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but as looked at in the directionreversed from that in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmental plan view of a motorcar useful in explaining theeffect of the invention.

While the invention has various applications the same is particularlysuitable for use in opening and closing a hood for an automotive engineand will now be described in conjunction With such a hood.

According to the teachings of the invention a hinge mechanismoperatively coupled to an engine hood is operable to open the hood suchthat the hood effects a forward movement limited to a relatively smalldistance while the rear end thereof is moved in the substantiallyvertical direction. This prevents the inner edge portion of each fenderadjacent one rear corner of the hood in its closed position frompossible damage, due to violent closing of the hood. Also when the hoodis in its open position rainwater is prevented from being driven ordropped through a clearance formed between the rear end of the hood andthe adjacent portion of the associated car body into the interior of thebody.

The present mechanism includes links operative to rotate the same as awhole rearwardly upon opening the engine hood until the links arebrought into the substan tially vertical position upon fully opening thehood. Therefore the hood can be opened to a relatively large anglerelative to the horizon and firmly maintained in its fully openposition. This increases the safety with which any desired operation canbe performed and various operations performed around the hinge mechanismalso are facilitated.

The mechanism further includes a helical balance spring member havingboth ends capable of coupling to the linkage in a predetermined constantstate independent of the angular position of the mechanism displaced dueto opening and closing movement of the engine hood. This measure permitsthe necessary expansion and contraction of the balance spring member tobe fully utilized.

In addition the invention contemplates to improve both a couplingposition at which either end of the helical balance spring member iscoupled to the linkage and the construction of a supporting shaft aboutwhich the mechanism can be rotated resulting in compactness, simplicityand inexpansiveness.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is illustrated one form of theconventional hinge mechanisms for opening and closing a hood for anautomotive engine. An arrangement illustrated comprises a pair of frontand rear connector members 1 and 2, an upper member 3 pivotallyconnected at both ends to the upper ends of the connector members 1 and2 by a pair of pivot pins 4a and 417 respectively, a lower or basemember 5 pivotally connected at one end to the lower end of the frontconnector member 1 by a pivot pin 40, and a locus rod 6 pivotallyconnected at both ends to the adjacent portion of the base member 5 andthe lower end of the rear connector member 2 by a pair of pivot pins 4dand 4e to form a linkage.

The upper member 3 is rigidly secured on an engine hood 7. The basemember 5 has the other end pivotally mounted on a support shaft 8adisposed on a bracket 9 rigidly secured to a fender 10 while the rearconnector member 2 has the lower end portion pivotally mounted onanother support shaft 8b also disposed on the bracket 9. The arrangementfurther comprises a helical balance spring 11 having one end anchored tothe base member 5 and the other end anchored to an appropriate portionof the bracket 9.

With the arrangement illustrated it will be seen that J the base member5 can be rotated about its support shaft 3:! thereby to rotate the hingemechanism as a whole.

If the engine hood 7 is manually opened from its position illustrated atdotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 2, the pivot pins 411 through 4c willmove along their res ective locus designated by lines A, B and C in FIG.2. As a result, each of two rear corners 12 of the hood 7 move along itslocus D and advances to an appreciable extent.

The construction as above described has several disadvantages. Forexample, with the engine hood having both longitudinal sides convergingtoward each other (as shown by the reference characters a and b in FIG.8), violent closing of the hood may cause a bent flange part formed ateach rear corner 12 of the hood 7 to damage a coating on the uppersurface of the adjacent portion of the fender as a reaction. If theengine hood is opened in the rain, rainwater will drop upon variousdevices projecting forwardly from a dashboard 13 through a relativelywide spacing formed between the rear edge of the engine hood 10 and achannel 14 disposed on a cowl 15 when the hood is in its open position.Further, after the engine hood has been opened, any desired operation isdifficult to be performed around the hinge mechanism within an enginespace. For example, the various devices disposed adjacent the dashboard13 may be inspected with difficulty. This is because the position of thebase member 5 relative to the front connector member in the longitudinaldirection of the associated vehicle remains substantially unchangedregardless of whether the engine hood is opened or closed. Also, sincethe engine hood in its open position can be tilted only at a relativelysmall angle to the horizontal, there is a fear that the operator maydash his head against a locking member attached at the free end portionof the engine hood. Further, in addition to its complicatedconstruction, the expansion and contraction of the helical balancespring 11 cannot be satisfactorily utilized for the reason that, anangle at which either end of the spring is anchored to the base member 5or the bracket 9 respectively is changed with the angular position ofthe engine hood.

In order to reduce fore-and-aft movement of an engine hood during itsopening and closing movements there has also been known a hingemechanism of the type shown in FIG. 3 wherein like reference numeralsdesignate the components similar to those illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.As in FIGS. 1 and 2, a base member 5 is pivotally supported at one endto a bracket 9 by a support shaft 3 and has a front connector member 1pivotally connected thereto at the other end. The front connector member1 and a rear connector member 2 serving as a main connector member arepivotally connected to an upper member 3 which, in turn, is rigidlysecured to an engine hood 7. The main connector member 3 is provided onthe lower portion with a longitudinally elongated slot 16 into which asupport pin 17 on the bracket 9 projects. A helical balance spring 11has one end anchored at the lower end of the rear member 3 and the otherend anchored to an appropriate portion of the bracket 9.

With the arrangement illustrated it will be appreciated that the mainand base members 2 and 5 serve essentially to bear the engine hood 7 inits open position. This measure together with the helical balance spring11 anchored to the main member 3 and the bracket 9 in the manner shownin FIG. 2 requires the use of the bracket 9 having a large dimension andhence a large space occupied by the hinge mechanism within theassociated engine room. This cooperates with the structure by which thespring 10 is anchored to the main member 2 and the bracket 5! to impartto the helical spring only a relatively small expansion and contraction.Therefore, the engine hood may be expected to be maintained in balancedstate in its open position only when the spring is formed of a resilientwire having a large diameter. In addition the sliding engagement of themain connector member 2 with the support pin 17 on the bracket 9 mayhave more play during movement of opening and closing the engine hoodthan the rotational engagement as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Moreover, anincrease in an angle formed between the open hood and the upper surfaceof the associated tender leads necessarily to a complicated shape of theelongated slot 16. Also, any desired operation is difiicult to beperformed around the hinge mechanism within the engine space. Also, asin the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the engine hood hasbeen opened to its maximum possible angle, the torque effect is notexpected resulting in a danger of damaging the operator. Finally anincrease in dimension of the hinge mechanism leads to an increase inmanufacturing costs.

The invention contemplates to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantagesof the prior art practice.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 wherein like reference numerals designatethe components similar to those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there isillustrated a hinge mechanism constructed in accordance with theteachings of the invention. An arrangement illustrated comprises a pairof front and rear connector members 1 and 2, an upper member 3 and abase member 5 to form a quadrilateral linkage as will be subsequentlydescribed. The upper member 3 having for example an L-shaped section isrigidly secured to an engine hood 7 while the base member 5 is pivotallymounted at the rear end on a support shaft So on a bracket 9 rigidlysecured on the internal wall surface of a fender 1%. The front connectormember 1 is pivotally connected at both ends to the upper and basemembers 3 and 5 at the front ends by a pair of pivot pins 4a and 4crespectively while the rear connector member 2 pivotally mounted at bothends to the rear end portion of the upper member 3 and to thesubstantially middle portion of the base member 5 by a pair of pivotpins 415 and 4d respectively to form a quadrilateral linkage.Preferably, the axis of the pivot pin 4d is positioned above a linepassing through the axes of the pin and shaft 4b and 8a and nearlymidway between the latter axes.

As shown, the rear connector member 2 has a locus member 6 pivotallyconnected at one end thereto substantially at a middle pointintermediate the axes of the pivot pins 46 and 4a by a pivot pin 46 andat the other end pivotally mounted on a support shaft 812 disposed onthe bracket 9 at a predetermined distance from the support shaft 8a. Itis to be noted that the locus member 6 should be disposed and arrangedwith respect to the base member 3 such that the lower edge is alwayssubstantially aligned with the upper edge of the base member regardlessof the angular position of the hinge mechanism during its rotationalmovement.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the base member 5 has the upper edge portionat substantially right angles to the plane formed of the remainingessential members and provided on the side of a pivot pin 4b with anotch 1811. Similarly the locus member 6 has the lower edge portion bentat substantially right angles to the plane just described and providedon the side of support shaft with a notch 18b. A helical balance spring11 is disposed between the base and locus members 5 and 6 by having bothends engaging the notches 18a and 18b respectively.

Thus it will be appreciated that the quadrilateral linkage composed ofthe members 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 can be rotated about the support shafts 8aand 8]) while extending and collapsing.

The mechanism thus far described is operated as follows: When the enginehood 7 is in its closed position the hinge mechanism is in itscollapsing state as shown by dotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 5. As theengine hood 7 is manually opened, the base member 5 connected to theinternal surface of the hood 7 through the upper member 3 secured to thelatter and the front member 1 pivoted to the upper member is rotatedabout the axis of the support shaft 8a in the clockwise direction asviewed in FIG. 5. During this rotational movement of the base member 5,the pivot pin 40 common to the upper and base memhers I and 5 will moveupwardly and rearwardly along a locus designated by dotted-and-dashedline C while the pivot pin 4a connecting to the front member 1 to theupper member 3 will move upwardly along a locus desi nated bydotted-and-dashed line A in FIG. 5, until the front and base members 1and 5 reach their maximum open positions where they form an obtuse angleapproximately at right angles therebetween.

At the same time the locus member 6 operatively connected to the rearmember 2 by the pivot pin 42 is rotated about the axis of the supportshaft 8b. During this rotational movement of the locus member 6, thepivot pin 4e will move upwardly and rearwardly along a locus E as thepivot pin 4c while the pivot pin 4b will ascend along a locus B (seeFIG. 5). As a result, both rear corner ends 12 of the engine hood 7 movealong a locus designated by dotted-and-dashed line D in FIG. 5 untilthey reach their positions adjacent and slightly above the cowl 15whereupon the engine hood is brought into its maximum open position asshown by solid line in FIG. 5, in which it is maintained stationary.

If it is desired to close the engine hood the hinge mechanism movesthrough the process reversed from that above described until it is putin its position designated by dotted-and-dashed line in FIG. 5 whereuponthe hood is closed.

By comparing FIG. 2 with FIG. 5 it will be readily appreciated thatduring its opening movement the present hinge mechanism effectshorizontal movement of the engine hood very short as compared with theconventional mechanism such as that illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Aspreviously described, the upper edge of the base member 5 issubstantially aligned with the lower edge of the locus member 6 alwaysregardless of the angular position of the hinge mechanism during itsrotational movement. This insures that the helical balance spring 11 isanchored on the associated members 2 and 9 in substantiallypredetermined fixed state with the result that the required expansionand contraction of the spring can be sufliciently utilized. Also asabove described, the base member 5 is positioned at an obtuse angle tothe front member 1 when the engine hood 7 has been fully opened. Withthe engine hood 7 fully opened, further, a line passing through the axesof the support shaft 8a and the pivot pin 4a is diverged downwardly withrespect to a line passing through the axes of the pivot pin 4e and thesupport shaft 8b, as will be readily seen in FIG. 5. Therefore, thetorque effect can be sufficiently presented ensuring the safety of anydesired operation performed around the dashboard within the enginespace.

While the invention has been shown and described in conjunction With apreferred embodiment thereof it is to be apparent to those skilled inthe art that various changes in the detail of construction and thearrangement and combination of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Also it is to beunderstood that the invention is equally applicable to hinge mechanismsfor opening and closing cover members such as a cover for a trunk spaceof a motorcar; a rear window cover for a station wagon and the like.

What I claim is:

1. A hinge mechanism for opening and closing a cover member, comprisinga collapsible quadrilateral linkage including an upper member rigidlyadapted to be secured to said cover member, a stationary part, a basemember pivotally mounted on said stationary part, a pair of generallyparallel front and rear connector members pivotally connected betweensaid upper member and said base member, and a locus member pivotallyconnected at one end to said rear connector member at a pointintermediate the base member and the upper member and at the other endto the stationary part, the locus member guiding said quadrilaterallinkage to move the pivotal connection of the upper member and the rearconnector member substatially only vertically during opening and closingof said cover member.

2. A hinge mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein a helical balancespring has one end anchored to said base member and the other endanchored to said locus member, said base member and said locus memberbeing disposed in substantially parallel relationship during movement ofsaid linkage, both said base member and said locus member rotating in acommon direction thereby to maintain anchoring of said helical balancespring unchanged during movement of the hinge mechanism.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1960 Fielder 16l63 6/1961Krause 16-1281

1. A HINGE MECHANISM FOR OPENING AND CLOSING A COVER MEMBER, COMPRISINGA COLLAPSIBLE QUADRILATERAL LINKAGE INCLUDING AN UPPER MEMBER RIGIDLYADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO SAID COVER MEMBER, A STATIONARY PART, A PAIR OFGENPIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID STATIONARY PART, A PAIR OF GENERALLYPARALLEL FRONT AND REAR CONNECTOR MEMBERS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED BETWEENSAID UPPER MEMBER AND SAID BASE MEMBER, AND A LOCUS MEMBER PIVOTALLYCONNECTED AT ONE END TO SAID REAR CONNECTOR MEMBER AT A POINTINTERMEDIATE THE BASE MEMBER AND THE UPPER MEMBER AND AT THE OTHER ENDTO THE STATIONARY PART, THE LOCUS MEMBER GUIDING SAID QUADRILATERALLINKAGE TO MOVE THE PIVOTAL CONNECTION OF THE UPPER MEMBER AND THE REARCONNECTOR MEMBER SUBSTANTIALLY ONLY VERTICALLY DURING OPENING ANDCLOSING OF SAID COVER MEMBER.